Thane rose, and by his signal, I rose too. He took my hands. I knew it was all an act; I should be trying harder; we had the whole pack to convince now, but I couldn't help but think about 'the marking'. The fact that everyone here would watch us. How was this normal? Thane drew me closer to him. "Don't fight me," he whispers, low enough that only I could hear him, and then his lips met mine. The kiss was gentle at first and then demanding; he consumed me, and all I had to do was play along, even if my eyes teared at the knowledge that he would be doing this here, right now. Maybe I could just close my eyes and pretend it was just the both of us. That wouldn't be hard, right? His lips finally left mine, and I was sure my lips were swollen and my cheeks flushed. "My mate would be marked and claimed tonight," he announced, and the whole crowd erupted. I watched the faces of the people waiting to see me naked. "But it would be done in private," he says, and the applause died down. I
Axel was there almost immediately. "Thane" he called out, but the Alpha was far gone and I was a complete wreck, one thing was sure, I wouldn't have stopped him."Listen to me Thane, you don't want her hurt, remember?"Slowly Thane's eyes returned back to their normal colour, he stared at the mark he gave me, it still stung, but my mind was too clouded."I'm sorry" he says and with that he walks away, leaving the room. It took only a few minutes to gather myself and realise that Axel had seen ‘everything’. I couldn’t look him in the eyes, even as he brought a robe for me helping me into it.“Thank you” I said to him, avoiding eye contact.“You didn’t seem to want him to stop though” Axel said and it was of course very much true, I hadn’t wanted him to stop, damn I would have let him fuck me right in front of Axel. I had no response to that.“Thane’s father seemed rather unpleased at the fact that he was breaking the tradition” I said, trying my best to act like ‘this’ was nothing,
I had spent the whole night reading through the pages of the very lengthy diary belonging to the lady named Barbara.Thane hadn’t returned to our room that night. The morning came too soon.I was happy to see Axel though."How was your night?, you don't seem well rested""I... I had been occupied."He gave me a questioning look. "Are you still worrying about Thane's whereabouts? I told you not to.""I wasn't," I said, but that was partly a lie; I had been worried over where he was right before I pulled out the book ‘Barbara's fantasies’-- that had kept me very much awake."Let's go somewhere.""Where?""Anywhere, or maybe a run in the woods," he suggested.I still felt very self-conscious when being stared at like I was a piece on display, but he was right; I had to leave this place."Okay, I'll go change," I said..I splashed some cold water on my face. I put on some black leggings and a matching tank top, knowing full well that Thane wouldn't approve of this. I felt too lazy to do
There was this strange emotion in me. I couldn't let Axel know, so I did my best to think of everything but that Thane had spent the night with Beatrix, leaving me in my room all alone. I hated it. I had admired the girl when I first saw her, but now, I felt the dislike brewing in me."Are you okay?" Axel asked as we headed on our way to the woods."Yes" I lied."You aren't. You are jealous.""You feel like you know everything, but you don't""I don't know everything, but that I know""I should have expected that, it shouldn't surprise me, I hadn't 'satisfied' him, so perhaps he got that elsewhere""Don't blame it on yourself, is not your fault"I nodded, shoving away that memory.~"How far are we going?' I asked when we arrived in the woods."Far enough""Axel""Yes?""You do know I can't transform into my wolf form as often as you can, right?" I questioned. I wondered how I forgot to tell him this earlier- maybe I assumed that he would know. As omegas, we have weaker connections wi
“I make the rules, not you, and who I fuck is not your business. I'll have you if I want you, and if you want me, all you have to do is tell me. But you weren't available.""So you took a quick option?""Riley, you seem to have forgotten you are not my true mate; the only thing binding us is the contract. What I do doesn’t hurt you physically. We can pretend to be so much in love before others, but outside that, nothing.""Well, you aren't good at pretending, seeing how close you are to this Beatrix.""I can be with whoever I want to be with."“Then how would you feel if I fucked Axel? Would you like that?”“I would not hold you back, Riley; you are free to be with whomever you want, and this contract doesn’t tie you to me, just as long as I approve of said person.”“Do you approve of Axel, then?”“Yes, I do, but the only condition is that I will watch you while you fuck him. That would be a turn-on,” he said, a smirk playing on his lips.Was he being serious?, I had only been trying
‘I’ve heard rumors about being intimate with more than one man—I never thought it possible, but I’ve always wanted to try. Would it hurt? Would it be a better addition to my list of fantasies?When the ‘wealthy guy’ called for me, I had met him in his room like every other day, but he was not alone; there was another guy, ‘the younger guy’ with him. We chatted and we laughed, but I didn’t plan to tarry long. So I headed into the bathroom, took off my clothes, and returned naked. Two pairs of eyes were on me, and I wondered what it would be like to be loved by two men. I lay on the couch, knowing they would come to me, and they did, both undressed. I had never felt a desire so strong; I wanted a ...threesome, none of them would be left out. I was going to have them both, and they were going to own me...’.Threesome. Never had I heard of the term; how was it possible?That had been the thought on my mind when I slept off. ~I woke with a start, feeling disoriented; it wasn’t evening ye
"I won't bind your hands this time, but you have to stay still," he says, and I could only manage to respond with a nod.He kissed my lips; this time it was soft, his palm was very low down my abdomen, and a slight movement caused the heat to build up. I let out a small moan, which was silenced by his kiss.Noticing that, he adjusted, his palm no longer having physical contact with my skin.He kissed down my jaw and then my ears, nibbling gently on my ears, and then he kissed me down my collar bones. His lips against my bare skin caused a strange kind of spark, dampening my core.His palm massaged my breasts, and I let out another moan as he sucked at my very sensitive nipple, his canine grazing into it only slightly. He repeated this action to the other, and I had already begun writhing under him, in need of more friction between our lower parts; he wouldn't give that just yet. His kisses trailed lower, between my breasts and my abdomen. I froze."What are you doing?" I questioned, t
I woke up with a smile on my face. I didn’t know how long I had slept, but I hadn’t felt this rested since I came here. I was alone on the bed; it’s not like I expected him to stay.I couldn’t help but remember everything that had happened last night, and my lower part felt kind of numb. I tried standing up.That was a big mistake. I lay back down.“You shouldn’t try that." The voice called. I hadn’t noticed Axel on the cushion.“How long have you been here?”“A couple of hours,” he says, and I didn’t miss the fact that I was naked, with a lot of evidence of what I had just done with Thane. “You look totally fucked,” he commented with a smirk, and I turned red. He did have a hidden ability to embarrass me.I pulled up the covers in an attempt to cover my nudity.“I'm not trying to humiliate you, Riley, but there’s literally no part of you I haven’t seen yet.”“I think you and Thane are freaks,” I say, and I do mean it, but I abandoned the covers. He was right, though. “Where is he?”“
The disappointment in his voice was even harder to bear than the betrayal I had suffered from people I once called friends."I should have told you, but I knew you would’ve kept assuring me you were fine—even when we both knew you were dying inside. She said you were going to die, whether you stopped or continued with the doses. I just… couldn’t lose you.""Who is this ‘she’ you are referring to?” he asked, and I immediately realized my slip."I… it doesn’t matter. You’re alive, and that’s what’s important."Slowly, he let go of me, and I instantly missed his warmth. “How does it feel?”“What?”“To be so close to achieving your dreams?” he asked. I wanted to tell him I didn’t care anymore about the goddamn title; all I wanted was to have him by my side. I wanted him, but before I could tell him just that, he spoke on. “I hope it was worth it.”Those final words had felt like some kind of goodbye.“I, Ethan Alexander Darkwood, reject you, Kaida Dawn, as my fated mate.” He said.Seeing
There was something different about the way he looked at me—the way he regarded me. I saw it in the way his body tensed the moment I stepped inside. He saw me as a threat, and it took a moment to understand why. Cynthia had taken my form when she approached him, making him believe it was me. The moment his guard dropped, she struck.But what he remembered was me stabbing him—my face, my hands, delivering the blow.“Alexander,” I whispered, unable to say anything more. He only stared at me, as if trying to read me. I had wanted to see him so badly, but I hadn’t stopped for even a moment to think about what I would say to him when we met.“The Cursed Weapon—how did you find it?” he asked.“I don’t understand.”“The dagger you used on me.”The cursed weapon, I’ve heard about that too. History says the Elders had been the original keepers of the steel; that had been before they were killed. The weapon had the ability to take away one’s wolf. It made more sense now, what Cynthia was saying
It felt surreal—the blood on the sheets, the body—Alexander. I couldn’t process any of it.“No!” I cried.Foolish, foolish girl.I held him. “You can’t die, please, you can’t die. I’m here, look at me, open your eyes, dammit!”I had never felt this afraid, not even when I received news that my father had passed.Soon, I heard footsteps approaching—the door was still open. They were coming to find the source of the noise. I hadn’t even realized how loudly I had been screaming.“I didn’t mean to… She said she wouldn’t kill him.”More people gathered, and soon, our room was crowded, every face frozen in shock.A hand pressed against my back—Phil. He was saying something, but I couldn’t understand him. Austin was there too, along with some of the other advisors.A woman stepped forward.“I have to take him, Luna.”I let out a snarl. “Don’t touch him… No one touches him!”There must have been something in my voice because she stepped back immediately—so did some of the other pack members.
“There must be another way to cure him.” I insisted."There is no other way. It’s either this or he dies. We don’t have much time. If you refuse my offer, I won’t be generous enough to grant it a second time. You will have to watch him die—knowing you had the power to save him, but you refused."I held back the sob, threatening to escape my lips. They would not see me cry, especially not the woman who killed my parents.“You want a puppet; someone you can control.”“I only have one request from you, the very same one I had already mentioned. Other than that, I won’t make your decisions for you. You will rule.”“When you take away his wolf. What would he become?”"He won’t change; he will be the very same man," she said, a small smile curving on her lips. "And since I’m so generous, I’ll leave your Beta Aric, and Sarah with you to do as you wish. Punish them as you see fit."“No!” Sarah cried out, falling to her knees before the Empress. “I did as you asked of me. I did everything you
"Let me help you, Kaida," Cynthia said, her voice only a little above a whisper."I told you, I don’t need your help. Alexander will find me, and none of you will get away with this."“You’ve only been here for a few hours; besides, Amanda would hardly be considered a threat, and all the camera captured was the little girl leading you in here. He wouldn’t think you are in any form of danger.”"So, you aren’t here for the missing girl. You’ve revealed all your secret plans to me… I can’t help but wonder—why are you here? If you wanted to make me pay for what I did to you, you would have done it a long time ago."“We are getting to that. But I believe there is something you need to know. Addiction to wolfsbane may be dangerous, but stopping is even more dangerous.”For some reason, I believed her. I had seen what the withdrawal symptoms did to Alexander; it was slowly killing him, but his response remained the same anytime I asked; ‘A little while and it would pass.’ The question was, w
Empress Cynthia had read the question in my eyes before I could even ask it."I know you're curious about what your Beta wanted in exchange for betraying your trust," she said. I refused to meet her gaze—I wouldn’t let her see that I wanted to know. “He loves you; that much is clear. There were times he was willing to turn his back on his own family just to keep you safe. You were the one person he would never hurt. But when it came to choosing between you and his little sister… the choice wasn’t easy. She was the leverage I held over him. I have her locked away, far from his reach, until he completes his assignment. Everything he did—he did to keep her alive.”That was a lie.“Aric never had a sister.”"You say you cared about him, but I don’t believe that. You were always caught up in your own little world, blind to what was happening in others’—even those you called ‘family.’ You know, I wanted to reward him for his service, I believed he deserved more, but he never cared for mater
Aric had been the Beta, second in command—it only made sense for my father to leave him in charge of the pack, but he never did. He had seen something I hadn’t. Instead, he wanted me mated to Alexander, believing it was the best way to keep me safe. I had thought it was just to protect me from Cynthia, but that wasn’t the only reason. He knew there were others who posed a threat.Cynthia waited for me to piece everything together and slowly, I did.My father never informed Aric of his plans to marry me off. I had found that strange but never thought much of it. Now, thinking back to their conversation—when Aric had tried to convince him to end the agreement—my father had firmly refused.“The letter… it was false.” I finally spoke up.“Your father would never have sent you against her. He wanted you far away from her. But it wasn’t entirely false—there was some truth to it,” he said, his eyes never meeting mine.“You advised me against telling Alexander about my plans to face the Empre
I woke up with a pounding headache. It took only seconds to realize this had been a setup—and Amanda, the girl we rescued, was part of it.I wasn’t chained or restrained—just placed in a corner of the hall. Sitting right in front of me was Empress Cynthia, with Amanda by her side and…“Sarah?”It came out as more of a question. My gaze shifted between Amanda and Sarah, and the pieces finally fell into place. Amanda had been ‘adopted’ by Sarah—this had all been a carefully planned setup.“I am doing this for you.” She said, there was no hint of regret on her face.Sarah was one of the few I had allowed close to me. I saw her as a friend—the last person I would ever expect to betray me. But I couldn’t let them see how much it hurt. These were people I cared about.Alexander had wanted me to stay out of the Gray Moon Pack’s business, but I didn’t. I wanted justice for the little girl being sent against her will to marry a barbaric man like Grayson. And now, that very same girl had turned
KAIDA’S POVFor the next week, Alexander went to work as usual and returned home on time. Except for the slight tremor in his hands, he seemed to be getting better—or at least, that’s what he wanted me to believe. But I saw right through the act. He wasn’t getting better.The light footsteps caught my attention—someone was in my apartment.I grabbed a handgun from the drawer and silently followed the sound, only to stop abruptly. It was Amanda—the girl Alex had brought back to our pack from the Gray Pack after her parents attempted forcibly marrying her off to Alpha Grayson.“Hey,” I said, shoving the handgun into the back of my waistband.“Luna, I’m so sorry—I shouldn’t have come,” she said, about to leave.“No… it’s alright, Amanda,” I said to her, and her eyes brightened at the fact that I still remembered her name. She stared at me with a strange kind of adoration.“I’ve heard a lot about you since I got here. Do you know the soldiers are practically terrified of you?”“I don’t th